The present invention relates to an object state sensing apparatus, an object state sensing method, a home electronic appliance, a network adapter and a medium that are effective in sensing an object, such as a human body, in each room of a house.
As for a conventional method of sensing the existence of a person in a room, there is the well-known system wherein one tremor sensing-type human body sensor is installed on, for example, on a ceiling so that human body sensing is carried out according to the movement of a person who has come into a room. This system has a problem wherein the human body sensor cannot sense a person in a room in the case that the person is stationery when reading, sleeping, or the like, and cannot detect the person""s presence. That is to say, the sensor cannot distinguish the case wherein the person in the room is stationary from the case wherein the person has actually left the room, although the system can be built at a low cost because the tremor sensing-type human body sensor is inexpensive.
As a method for solving the above described problem, there is the well-known technology in Japanese unexamined patent publication H6 (1994)-230144, for example.
FIG. 6 shows a configuration view of the technology described in Japanese unexamined patent publication H6 (1994)-230144. Human body sensors are denoted as 1010 and 1020, wherein 1010 has a view of an entrance to a room while 1020 has a view of the inside of the room, and it is necessary for the respective sensing ranges to be determined so as not to overlap. Human body sensing information generation parts that sense the existence of responses of the two human body sensors and which output human body sensing information are denoted as 1030 and 1040. In addition, a determination part for determining if a person has left based on the human body sensing information received from the human body sensing information generation parts 1030 and 1040 is denoted as 1050.
The operation thereof is described in the following. The human body sensing information generation parts 1030 and 1040 output xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d in the case that there is a response and xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d in the case that there is no response, according to the existence of a response of the human body sensors 1010 and 1020. The room exit determination part 1050 monitors the output history of the human body sensing information generation parts 1030 and 1040 and determines that a person has left a room in the case of the occurrence of a certain sequence of response histories as shown in Table 1.
As described above, in the human body sensing system described in Japanese unexamined patent publication H6 (1994)-230144, two tremor sensing-type human body sensors having views of the entrances to one room and the inside of the room respectively are installed on the ceiling of the room so that the entrances into and exits out of the room can be monitored according to the chronological history of the responses of the two sensors and, therefore, the exits out of the room can be clearly sensed resulting in an increase in the precision of human body sensing.
In addition, as a technology similar to that of Japanese unexamined patent publication H6 (1994)-230144, there is a method of improving the precision of human body sensing by installing tremor sensing-type human body sensors on the ceiling of each room, in corridors outside of rooms, in hallways, or the like, and by using the same method as in Japanese unexamined patent publication H6 (1994)-230144.
However, there is a problem wherein disadvantage arises in cost in the case that the above described conventional human body sensing system is desired to be applied to a house having a plurality of rooms. For example, in a house having a layout of four rooms surrounding a corridor, the number of human body sensors required is two/each roomxc3x97four rooms=eight according to the technology in Japanese unexamined patent publication H6 (1994)-230144 and one/each roomxc3x97four rooms+one in corridor=five, at a minimum, according to the above described technology similar to that of Japanese unexamined patent publication H6 (1994)-230144.
That is to say, there is a problem wherein disadvantage arises in cost because the required number of human body sensors becomes large in conventional human body sensing systems.
The present invention takes the problem with the conventional human body sensing system into consideration and a purpose thereof is to provide an object state sensing apparatus, an object state sensing method, a home electronic appliance, a network adapter and a medium with a high precision of human body sensing by a small number of sensors wherein one human body sensor per room is installed; in the above case one per roomxc3x97four rooms=four human body sensors, for example, are installed, and wherein pattern of movement, including time for moving between rooms, is learned and, in the case that a response of a human body sensor in one room ceases to be detected, the human body sensing information of all of the other rooms is monitored so as to extract the pattern of movement, so that whether or not the person has exited is determined based on the degree of similarity between the extracted pattern of movement and the learned pattern of movement.
That is to say, a purpose of the present invention is to provide an object state sensing apparatus, an object state sensing method, a home electronic appliance, a network adapter and a medium that have a high precision of human body sensing despite the use of a small number of sensors.
To solve the above-described problems, One aspect of the present invention is an object state sensing apparatus comprising:
a state sensing information generation part for generating state sensing information showing the state of an object in two, or more, predetermined regions by means of moving body sensors, at least one of which is installed in each of said predetermined regions, for sensing the movement of said object; and
a determination part for specifying a predetermined region wherein said state sensing information has changed and for determining the state of said object in said specified predetermined region by utilizing said state sensing information of a predetermined region that is different from the specified predetermined region.
Another aspect of the present invention is the object state sensing apparatus,
wherein said two, or more, predetermined regions are respective rooms within a house,
wherein said condition sensing information is information showing either the sensed condition wherein said object is sensed or the non-sensed condition wherein said object is not sensed,
wherein said condition sensing information generation part generates said condition sensing information of each of said rooms from the existence of a response of a moving body sensor of each of said rooms, and
wherein said determination part has a condition sensing information change monitoring part for specifying a room, from among the respective rooms within said house, wherein said condition sensing information has changed from the sensed condition to the non-sensed condition.
Still another aspect of the present invention (corresponding to claim 3) is the object state sensing apparatus according to the 2nd invention, wherein said determination part comprises:
a non-specified room response sensing part for finding a movement pattern which is a pattern with respect to the movement between the respective rooms by checking, in the case that said state sensing information change monitoring part has specified a room wherein said state sensing information has changed from the sensed state to the non-sensed state, the state sensing information of a room other than said specified room; and
a room exit determination part for determining whether, or not, the object has exited from said specified room by comparing said found movement pattern to a reference pattern that is a pattern checked in advance and that is a pattern with respect to the movement between the respective rooms.
Yet still another aspect of the present invention is the object state sensing apparatus, characterized in that
said non-specified room response sensing part assumes the room, where said state sensing information has converted to the sensed state from the non-sensed state within a predetermined period of time since the time when said specified room is specified, to be a movement destination room and assumes the period of time from the time when said room is specified to the time when said movement destination room is converted to the sensed state to be a movement period of time, and in that
said movement pattern includes an ID of said specified room, an ID of said movement destination room and said movement period of time.
Still yet another aspect of the present invention is the object state sensing apparatus, characterized in that
said reference pattern includes the ID of said specified room, the ID of said movement destination room and a period of time, measured in advance, required for the object to move from said specified room to said movement destination room and in that
said determination means to determine that said object has exited from the room in the case that said movement period of time of said movement pattern is substantially equal to said period of time, which is measured in advance, of said reference pattern corresponding to said movement pattern.
A further aspect of the present is the object state sensing apparatus, characterized in that
said reference pattern includes the probability of said object exiting from said specified room with respect to said movement pattern and in that
said determination means to determine that said object has exited from the room in the case that said probability of said reference pattern corresponding to said movement pattern is greater than a predetermined value.
A still further aspect of the present invention is the object state sensing, characterized by comprising a movement pattern learning part for learning said movement pattern,
wherein said reference pattern is a result of learning in said movement pattern learning part and
wherein said determination means to determine based on a learning value corresponding to said movement pattern.
A yet further aspect of the present invention is the object state sensing, wherein said movement pattern learning part learns in said manner by means of a self-organizing algorithm.
A still yet further aspect of the present invention is the object state sensing apparatus, wherein said reference pattern corresponding to said movement pattern is a reference pattern specified by the ID of said specified room and by the ID of said movement destination room.
An additional aspect of the present invention is the object state sensing apparatus,
wherein said two, or more, predetermined regions are respective rooms within a house,
wherein said condition sensing information is information showing either the sensed condition wherein said object is sensed or the non-sensed condition wherein said object is not sensed,
wherein said condition sensing information generation part generates said condition sensing information of each of said rooms from the existence of a response of a moving body sensor of each of said rooms, and
wherein said determination part has a condition sensing information change monitoring part for specifying a room, from among the respective rooms within said house, wherein said condition sensing information has changed from the non-sensed condition to the sensed condition.
In addition, a still additional aspect of the invention is an object state sensing apparatus wherein the above described determination part is provided with non-specified room response sensing part for checking the state sensing information of the rooms other than a specified room in the case that the above described state sensing information change monitoring part specifies the room wherein the above described state sensing information has changed from the non-sensed state to the sensed state, so as to detect a pattern of movement that is a pattern with respect to movement between the respective rooms; and
a room entrance determination part for determining whether or not the object has entered into the above described specified room by comparing the above described detected pattern of movement and a pre-checked pattern, which is a reference pattern of a pattern with respect to movement between the respective rooms. The present invention may be the first related invention.
In addition, a yet additional aspect of the invention is an object state sensing apparatus characterized in that the above described non-specified room response sensing part assumes a room wherein the above described state sensing information has converted from the sensed state to the non-sensed state during the period of time from a predetermined past time to the time when the above described specified room is specified to be a room of movement origin and assumes the period of time from the time when the above described room of movement origin has converted to the non-sensed state to the above described specified time to be the period of time of movement and in that
the above described pattern of movement includes an ID of the above described specified room, an ID of the above described room of movement origin and the above described period of time of movement. The present invention may be the second related invention.
In addition, a still yet additional aspect of invention is an object state sensing apparatus characterized in that the above described reference pattern includes an ID of the above described specified room, an ID of the above described room of movement origin and the period of time measured in advance that is required for the object to move from the above described room of movement origin to the above described specified room and in that
the above described determination indicates to determine that the object has entered the room in the case that the above described period of time of movement of the above described pattern of movement and the above described period of time measured in advance of the above described reference pattern corresponding to the above described pattern of movement are substantially equal. The present invention may be the third related invention.
In addition, a supplementary aspect of the invention is an object state sensing apparatus, characterized in that the above described reference pattern includes the probability of the above described object exiting the above described room, which corresponds to the above described pattern of movement and in that
the above described determination indicates to determine that the above described object has entered the room in the case that the above described probability of the above described reference pattern corresponding to the above described pattern of movement is greater than a predetermined value. The present invention may be the fourth related invention.
In addition, a still supplementary aspect of the is an object state sensing apparatus, characterized by comprising a movement pattern learning part that learns the above described pattern of movement,
wherein the above described reference pattern is a learning result in the above described movement pattern learning part and
wherein the above described determination indicates to make a determination based on the learning value corresponding to the above described pattern of movement. The present invention may be the fifth related invention.
In addition, a yet supplementary aspect of the invention is an object state sensing apparatus wherein the above described movement pattern learning part learns the above described pattern of movement according to a self-organizing algorithm. The present invention may be the sixth related invention.
In addition, a still yet supplementary aspect of the invention is an object state sensing apparatus, wherein the above described reference pattern corresponding to the above described pattern of movement is a reference pattern specified by the above described ID of the specified room and the above described ID of the room of movement origin. The present invention may be the seventh related invention.
Another aspect of the present invention is a home electronic appliance comprising:
an object state sensing apparatus; and
a control part for changing the operational condition of said home electronic appliance in the case that said determination part determines that said object has exited from said specified room.
Still another aspect of the present invention is the home electronic, wherein said home electronic appliance is an air conditioner.
Yet still another aspect of the present invention is the home electronic,
wherein said control part changes the operational condition of said home electronic appliance in said specified room to a first operational condition in the case that said determination part determines that said object has exited from said specified,
wherein said control part changes the operational condition of said home electronic appliance to a second operational condition that is different from said first operational condition in the case that said state sensing information in said specified room has been in the condition of non-sensed for a predetermined period of time, or longer, since said determination is made that exist from the room has occurred, and
wherein said control part makes the operational condition of said home electronic appliance to return to the operational condition before the change to said first operational condition in the case that said state sensing information of said specified room is converted from the non-sensed state to the sensed state within said predetermined period of time.
Still yet another aspect of the present invention is a network adapter comprising:
an object state sensing;
said moving body sensor; and
a communication part for communicating with a home electronic appliance having a function part that performs predetermined functions based on a determination result of said object state sensing apparatus.
A further aspect of the present invention is the network adapter, comprising a control part for changing the operational condition of said function part in the case that said determination part determines that said object has exited from said specified room.
A still further aspect of the present invention is the network adapter,
wherein said control part changes the operational condition of said function part in said specified room to a first operational condition in the case that said determination part determines that said object has exited from said specified room,
wherein said control part changes the operational condition of said function part to a second operational condition that is different from said first operational condition in the case that said state sensing information in said specified room has been in the condition of non-sensed for a predetermined period of time, or longer, since said determination is made that exist from the room has occurred, and
wherein said control part makes the operational condition of said function part to return to the operational condition before the change to said first operational condition in the case that said state sensing information of said specified room is converted from the non-sensed state to the sensed state within said predetermined period of time.
A yet further aspect of the present invention is an object state sensing method comprising:
the state sensing information generation step of generating state sensing information showing the state of an object in two, or more, predetermined regions by means of moving body sensors, at least one of which is installed in each of said predetermined regions, for sensing the movement of said object; and
the determination step of specifying a predetermined region wherein said state sensing information has changed and of determining the state of said object in said specified predetermined region by utilizing said state sensing information of a predetermined region that is different from the specified predetermined region.
A still yet further aspect of the present invention is the object state sensing,
wherein said two, or more, predetermined regions are respective rooms within a house,
wherein said condition sensing information is information showing either the sensed condition wherein said object is sensed or the non-sensed condition wherein said object is not sensed,
wherein said condition sensing information generation step generates said condition sensing information of each of said rooms from the existence of a response of a moving body sensor of each of said rooms, and
wherein said determination step has the condition sensing information change monitoring step of specifying a room, from among the respective rooms within said house, wherein said condition sensing information has changed from the sensed condition to the non-sensed condition.
An additional aspect of the present invention is the object state sensing method, wherein said determination step has:
the non-specified room response sensing step of finding a movement pattern which is a pattern with respect to the movement between the respective rooms by checking, in the case that a room has been specified in said state sensing information change monitoring step, the state sensing information of a room other than said specified room; and
the room exit determination step of determining whether, or not, the object has exited from said specified room by comparing said found movement pattern to a reference pattern that is checked in advance and that is a pattern with respect to the movement between the respective rooms.
A still additional aspect of the present invention is the object state sensing,
wherein said two, or more, predetermined regions are respective rooms within a house,
wherein said condition sensing information is information showing either the sensed condition wherein said object is sensed or the non-sensed condition wherein said object is not sensed,
wherein said condition sensing information generation step generates said condition sensing information of each of said rooms from the existence of a response of a moving body sensor of each of said rooms, and
wherein said determination step has the condition sensing information change monitoring step of specifying a room, from among the respective rooms within said house, wherein said condition sensing information has changed from the non-sensed condition to the sensed condition.
In addition, the a yet additional aspect of the invention is an object state sensing method wherein
the above described determination step has the non-specified room response sensing step of checking the state sensing information of the rooms other than of a specified room in the case that the above described state sensing information change monitoring step specifies the room wherein the above described state sensing information has changed from the non-sensed state to the sensed state so as to detect a pattern of movement that is a pattern with respect to movement between the respective rooms and
the room entrance determination step of determining whether or not the object has entered the above described specified room by comparing the above described detected pattern of movement to a reference pattern that is a checked in advance and is a pattern with respect to the movement between the respective rooms.
A still yet additional aspect of the present invention is a medium that can be processed by a computer and that is a medium for holding a program that allows a computer to implement the entirety of, or part of
the state sensing information generation step of generating state sensing information showing the state of an object in two, or more, predetermined regions by means of moving body sensors, at least one of which is installed in each of said predetermined regions, for sensing the movement of said object; and
the determination step of specifying a predetermined region wherein said state sensing information has changed and of determining the state of said object in said specified predetermined region by utilizing said state sensing information of a predetermined region that is different from the specified predetermined region in the object state sensing.
A supplementary aspect of the present invention is a medium that can be processed by a computer and that is a medium for holding a program that allows a computer to implement the entirety of, or part of
the state sensing information generation step of generating state sensing information showing either the sensed state wherein said object is sensed or the non-sensed state wherein said object is not sensed in each of said rooms from the existence of a response of a moving body sensor in each of said rooms and
the determination step of specifying a room, from among the respective rooms within said house, wherein said state sensing information has changed from the sensed state to the non-sensed state and of determining the state of said object in said specified room by utilizing said state sensing information of a room that is different from the specified room in the object state sensing.
Another aspect of the present is a medium that can be processed by a computer and that is a medium for holding a program that allows a computer to implement the entirety of, or part of
the state sensing information generation step of generating state sensing information showing either the sensed state wherein an object is sensed or the non-sensed state wherein said object is not sensed in each of the rooms within a house from the existence of a response of a moving body sensor from among the moving body sensors for sensing said object, at least one of which is installed in each of said rooms,
the human body sensing information change monitoring step of specifying a room, from among the respective rooms within said house, wherein said state sensing information has changed from the sensed state to the non-sensed state,
the non-specified room response sensing step of checking the state sensing information of a room other than said specified room in the case that the room is specified in said human body sensing information change monitoring step so that a movement pattern that is a pattern with respect to the movement between the respective rooms is found and
the room exit determination step of determining whether, or not, the object has exited from said specified room by comparing said found movement pattern to a reference pattern that is a pattern checked in advance and that is a pattern with respect to the movement between the respective rooms in the object state sensing method.
Still another aspect of the present invention is a medium that can be processed by a computer and that is a medium for holding a program that allows a computer to implement the entirety of, or part of
the state sensing information generation step of generating state sensing information showing either the sensed state wherein said object is sensed or the non-sensed state wherein said object is not sensed in each of said rooms from the existence of a response of a moving body sensor in each of said rooms and
the determination step of specifying a room, from among the respective rooms within said house, wherein said state sensing information has changed from the non-sensed state to the sensed state and of determining the state of said object in said specified room by utilizing said state sensing information of a room that is different from the specified room in the object state sensing method.
In addition, yet still another aspect of the invention is a medium in the object state sensing method that holds a program for allowing a computer to implement the entirety of, or a portion of, the state sensing information generation step of generating state sensing information that shows, for each of the above described rooms, either the sensed state wherein the above described object has been sensed or the non-sensed state wherein the above described object has not been sensed from the existence of responses of the above described moving body sensor of each of the above described rooms by means of at least one moving body sensor installed in each of the rooms of a house so as to sense the object;
the human body sensing information change monitoring step of specifying a room wherein the above described state sensing information has changed from the non-sensed state to the sensed state from among the respective rooms of the above described house;
the non-specified room response sensing step of checking the state sensing information of the rooms other than the above described specified room in the case that the room is specified in the above described human body sensing information change monitoring step so as to detect the pattern of movement that is the pattern with respect to the movement between the respective rooms; and
the room entrance determination step of determining if the object has entered into the above described specified room by comparing the above described detected pattern of movement and a reference pattern that is checked in advance and is a pattern with respect to the movement between the respective rooms in the object state sensing method of the eighth related invention.
In addition, still yet another aspect of the invention is a program in the object state sensing method for allowing a computer to implement the entirety of, or a portion of, the state sensing information generation step of generating the state sensing information that shows the state of objects in each of two, or more, predetermined regions by means of at least one moving body sensor of sensing the movement of the object, installed in the above described predetermined region so as and
the determination step of specifying a predetermined region wherein the above described state sensing information has changed and of determining the state of the above described object in the above described specified predetermined region by utilizing the above described state sensing information of a predetermined region that differs from the specified predetermined region in the object state sensing method.
In addition, a further aspect of the invention is a program in the object state sensing method for allowing a computer to implement the entirety, or a portion of, the state sensing information generation step of generating the state sensing information that shows, for each of the above described rooms, either the sensed state wherein the above described object is sensed or the non-sensed state wherein the above described object is not sensed from the existence of the response of a moving body sensor in each of the above described rooms; and
the determination step of specifying a room wherein the above described state sensing information has converted from the sensed state to the non-sensed state from among the respective rooms of the above described house and of determining the state of the above described object in the above described specified room by utilizing the above described state sensing information of the rooms other than the specified room.
In addition, a still further aspect of the invention is a program in the object state sensing method for allowing a computer to implement the entirety of, or a portion of, the state sensing information generation step of generating the state sensing information that shows, for each room of a house, either the sensed state wherein the above described object is sensed or the non-sensed state wherein the above described object is not sensed from the existence of a response of at least one moving body sensor in each of the above described rooms by means of the above described moving body sensor installed in each of the above described rooms so as to sense the object;
the human body sensing information change monitoring step of specifying a room wherein the above described state sensing information has changed from the sensed state to the non-sensed state from among the respective rooms of the above described house;
the non-specified room response sensing step of checking the state sensing information of the rooms other than a specified room in the case that the room is specified in the above described human body sensing information change monitoring step so as to detect the pattern of movement that is the pattern with respect to the movement between the respective rooms; and
the room exit determination step of determining whether or not the object has exited from the above described specified room by comparing the above described detected pattern of movement to a reference pattern that is a pattern checked in advance and is a pattern with respect to the movement between the respective rooms.
In addition a yet further aspect of the invention is a program in the object state sensing method for allowing a computer to implement the entirety of, or a portion of, the state sensing information generation step of generating the state sensing information that shows, for each room, either the sensed state wherein the above described object is sensed or the non-sensed state wherein the above described object is not sensed from the existence of the response of the moving body sensor in each of the above described rooms; and
the determination step of specifying a room wherein the above described state sensing information has changed from the non-sensed state to the sensed state from among the respective rooms of the above described house and of determining the state of the above described object in the above described specified room by utilizing the above described state sensing information of the rooms other than the specified room.
In addition, a still yet further aspect of the invention is a program in the object state sensing method for allowing a computer to implement the entirety of, or a portion of, the state sensing information generation step of generating the state sensing information that shows, for each room of a house, either the sensed state wherein the above described object is sensed or the non-sensed state wherein the above described object is not sensed from the existence of a response of at least one moving body sensor in each of the above described rooms by means of the above described moving body sensor installed in each of the above described rooms so as to sense the object;
the human body sensing information change monitoring step of specifying a room wherein the above described state sensing information has changed from the sensed state to the non-sensed state from among the respective rooms of the above described house;
the non-specified room response sensing step of checking the state sensing information of the rooms other than a specified room in the case that the room is specified in the above described human body sensing information change monitoring step so as to detect the pattern of movement that is the pattern with respect to the movement between the respective rooms; and
the room entrance determination step of determining whether or not the object has entered to the above described specified room by comparing the above described detected pattern of movement to a reference pattern that is checked in advance and is a pattern with respect to the movement between the respective rooms.
An additional aspect of the invention may be, for example, a human body sensing system characterized by comprising: a plurality of human body sensors, at least one per room, installed in all of the rooms of a house; a human body sensing information generating part that generates human body sensing information of each of the rooms by obtaining the existence of responses of the human body sensor in each of the rooms; a human body sensing information change monitoring part that acquires an absence sensed time from a timer in the case that the human body sensing information in room m has changed from existence to absence and that outputs a room ID that represents the above described room m and the above described absence sensed time; a non-specified room response sensing part that monitors the human body sensing information of the rooms other than the above described room m for a predetermined period of time in the case that the above described room ID of room m and the above described absence sensed time from the above described human body sensing information change monitoring part and that calculates the period of time of movement from the above described room m to room n, any of other than the above described room m, by using the above described absence sensed time in the case that the human body sensing information exhibits present in the above described room n so as to output room IDs of the above described room m, which is the movement origin, and of the above described room n, which is the destination, as well as the above described period of time of movement; a time of movement storage part for receiving and storing an ID of the room of the movement origin and an ID of the room of the movement destination at the time of the exiting of the room as well as a period of time of movement from the non-specified room response sensing part; and a room exit determination part that determines that an exit has not been made from the room in the case that an ID of the room of movement origin, an ID of the room of movement destination and a period of time of movement are not received within the above described predetermined period of time from the above described non-specific room response sensing part and that determines that an exit has been made from the room when the above described period of time of movement agrees with the period of time of movement at the time of exiting from the room in the past stored in the time of movement storage part in the case that the an ID of the room of the movement origin, an ID of the room of the movement destination and a period of time of movement are received within the above described predetermined period of time.